Metra Plans To Revise Train Schedule On The Aurora-chicago Route

September 23, 1994|By Jerry Crimmins, Tribune Staff Writer.

In an effort to accommodate both tardy downtown Chicago workers and late-night Aurora gamblers, Metra is revising its schedule of trains on its most popular route, the Burlington Northern from Aurora to Chicago.

Among the features of the proposed new schedule is a late train leaving Aurora at 11:20 p.m. to deal with patrons of the Hollywood Casino boats, and a new evening express train from downtown Chicago serving stations from Downers Grove to Aurora.

Under the proposed changes, the last train from Aurora will depart 40 minutes later than it currently does. That train now departs at 10:40 p.m.

The new evening express from Chicago, No. 1263, will leave Union Station at 6:50 p.m. and arrive in Downers Grove 24 minutes later, at 7:14 p.m.

"Rush hour gets later and later in the evening," said Metra spokesman Chris Knapton. "There's always a market for an express train."

The route already carries 25,000 passengers a day.

The new schedule will go into effect Oct. 30 after comments are received from the public. Some revisions are possible.

What is going to affect the most people, said Knapton, is a series of small changes on popular morning and evening trains that will cause the trains to leave two to five minutes earlier than current schedules.

Metra's Burlington schedule has been unchanged for five years, he said, so train riders' habits are ingrained.

"I know people who pull in (to the commuter parking lot) every day a minute before the train comes. Then `ding, ding, ding,' along comes their train, and they get on," said Knapton.

He said some people will probably miss their trains the first few days after the schedule changes.

Many of the changes are necessary to reduce conflicts with freight trains on the extremely busy Burlington Northern tracks, and improve the commuter trains' on-time performance, according to Metra officials.

Metra operates 83 trains on the Burlington route on an average weekday. These have to meld smoothly with up to 100 freight trains on the same tracks, said Knapton.

One train affected by the changes in the morning schedule, he said, will be train No. 1202, a limited, which currently leaves Aurora at 5:35 a.m. and arrives at Union Station at 6:32 a.m. This nine-car train is packed with white collar workers headed for Chicago's financial markets and downtown construction workers who live in the Fox Valley, Knapton said.

Starting Oct. 30, this popular train will be leaving five minutes earlier, according to the proposed new schedule.

Metra also is adding two round trips on both Saturday and Sunday, bringing the total of available weekend commuter trains on the Burlington to 13 on Saturday and 9 on Sunday.

Metra is also adding two new weekday trains for reverse commuters. These trains, No. 1291 and No. 1295, will leave Union Station at 7:10 a.m. and 7:23 a.m. respectively. The first will run express from the Western Avenue station to Hinsdale. The second will run express from Union Station to Lisle in 30 minutes.